Butterfly valve

ABSTRACT

A butterfly valve actuated by a piston rod end operating in a slot integral with the valve disc. The disc is supported for rotation by a pair of blind stub shafts.

United States Patent 1191 Pauquette Nov. 13', 1973 BUTTERFLY VALVE3,298,286 l/l967 Tyler 251/58 x 1,603,455 10/1926 Dow 1 251/308 X [75]Inventor: James Pauquem, Clare Mlch- 3,410,520 11/1968 Mahoney....251/308 x [73] Ass1gr1ee: Chandler Evar s Inc., West FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS Hartford, Conn.

753,104 7/1956 Great Britain 251/308 [22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1972 [21] Appl.No.: 241,127 Primary Examiner-Arnold Rosenthal Attorney-David S. Fishmanet a1.

[52] U.S. Cl 251/58, 251/305, 251/308 [51] Int. Cl. Fl6k 31/165, Fl6kH22 57 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search 251/58, 308, 305

A butterfly valve actuated by a piston rod end operat- [56] ReferencesCited ing in a slot integral with the valve disc. The disc is UNITEDSTATES PATENTS supported for rotation by a pair of blind stub shafts.

2,529,431 11/1950 Steins 251/58 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures I i l 42 l li I 54 52 5O 40 1 BUTTERFLY VALVE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Fieldof the Invention The present invention relates to controlling the flowof fluids and particularly hot gases. More specifically, this inventionis directed to a valve particularly well suited for use in controllingthe flow of hot gases. Accordingly, the general objects of the presentinvention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus ofsuch character.

2. Description of the Prior Art While not limited thereto in itsutility, the present invention has been found to be particularly wellsuited for use in controlling the flow of heated gases through aconduit. Thus, apparatus in accordance with the invention may beemployed as a hot air shut-off valve in environmental heating systemsfor vehicles such as trucks and buses. Apparatus in accordance with theinvention may also be employed in a fuel de-icing system to control theflow of hot air utilized to preheat fuel delivered to an engine.Regardless of its manner of use, the present invention overcomes'certaininherent disadvantages of prior art devices of like character.

In the prior art the conventional manner of exercising control over theflow of hot air cotemplated the use of a butterfly valve. To'enable hightemperature applications, the conventional butterfly valve was modifiedby being equipped with shaft seals, bearings and actuator seals whichwere capable of withstanding high temperatures and which were thuscomparatively expensive accessories. The prior art butterfly valve, asused to control the flow of heated fluids, was accordingly acomparatively expensive, heavy and physically large device.

High cost and expense an'dlarge size are all undesirable characteristicsfor many applications.

In addition to the above briefly'discussed disadvantages-of prior artbutterfly valves designed for high temperature environments, it is to benoted that conventional butterfly valves, and particularly those whichare fluid actuated, have a shaft mounted disc with'the shaft ported byuse of blind stub shafts thereby eliminating extending outside of thevalvebore. This arrangement requires the-use of a rotary shaft seal atthe valve disc thereby presenting a potential leakage path with thevalve in the closed position. Also, the typical art valve has anoperating lever or crank which islocated outside of the-valveboreandconnected to the actuator shaft by means of .a connecting rod orscotch-yoke mechanism; This arrangementflincreases the sizeof thoseportions of the valve mechanism positioned externally of the conduit orvalve housing and for many applications this is a further disadvantage;

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the abovebriefly discussed and otherdeflciencies and disadvantages of thepriorart by providing a novel and improved method the need fora rotaryseal in the valve. The primary seal ring about the periphery of thevalve disc is preferably a spiral wound seal ring and thus constitutes alow cost standard commercial component which aids in the reduction ofcost of the valve.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The presentinvention may be betterunderstood and its numerous objects and advantages will become apparentto those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawingwherein like reference numerals refer to like elements in the twofigures and in which: FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side elevation view ofa first embodiment of a valve in accordance with the present invention,the disc supporting elements having been eliminated from FIG. 1 in theinterest of clarity;

FIG 2' is a cross-sectional view'taken along line 2--2 of the embodimentof FIG. 1', FIG. 2 depicting the shaft supporting elements of thedisclosed embodiment.

DESCRIPTIONOF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMNT I With reference now to thedrawing, .it' is to be observed that the disclosed embodiment is asingle-acting, normally-closed pneumatic actuator. It is, however, to beunderstood that the present invention may be employed as asingle-acting, normally-open or doubleacting device for either pneumaticor hydraulic actuation and devices in accordance with the invention maybe employed as either modulating or shut-off valves. The disclosedembodiment is employed to control the flow of heated fluid, typicallyhot air, in either direction through a valve body or conduit indicatedgenerally at 10. In operation the valve element cooperates, in themanner to be descibed with a precision ground surface 11 on theinterior'of conduit 10. r 1

1 The flow interrupting-portion of the valve'comprises a valve disc 12.The arm 14-of a scotch-yoke mechanism is-formed integrally with disc 12as may clearly be seen from joint cosideration of FIGS. 1 and 2. Arm 14is provided with a slot 16' for the purposesto be described below. Thedisc 12 hasa groove formed in its periphery'and a spiral wound sealringI8 isreceived in this groove. Seal ring 18 is g'round'on its outerdiameter to provideeffective sealing in the machined portion 11 of theboreof conduit 10. Seal ring 18 may, for example, comprise acommercially available retaining ring.

A piston rod 20'extends into conduit or valve body 10 and is provided,at its lower end, with a roller 22. Roller 22 engages the slot 16 in arm14 and is typically affixed to the end of rod; 20 by means of a pin 23.In the mannerto be described below, arid as will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art, reciprocation of rod 20 will cause the valve to becycled by rotating disc 12; the

fully closed position of the valve being shown in solid lines in FIG. 1and the fully open position being shown by broken lines.

As noted above, the valve of the disclosed embodiment of the inventionis actuated by a piston rod end operating in a slot in an arm integralwith the valve disc.

This arrangement permits the use of blind stub shafts to support thedisc thereby eliminating the need for any rotary seals in the valve. Thesupporting mechanisms have been omitted from FIG. 1 in the interest ofclarity but may be seen clearly from FIG. 2. The valve disc 12 rotatesabout stub shafts 26 and 28 and is centered in the bore of the valvebody or conduit by means of the thrust balls 30 and 32 respectivelyassociated with shafts 26 and 28. The thrust balls are located by meansof shims 34 and 36 positioned under the outer shoulders of the stubshafts and the shims also serve as sea]- ing gaskets.

Piston rod extends out through the wall of body or conduit 10 and isconnected to piston 40 disposed in a cylinder 41 defined by an actuatorhousing indicated generally at 42. In the disclosed embodiment thepiston is biased toward the bottom of cylinder 41 by a return spring 44whereby a normally closed valve is provided. A rod seal 46 is providedin the bottom of housing 42 about rod 20. The valve of the presentinvention wll be installed in such a manner to minimize the pressureacross rod seal 46; i.e., typically with rod 20 located at the dowstreamside of the disc. Piston 40 is provided with a ring seal 48 in thecoventional manner.

Operating pressure for the disclosed embodiment of the invention isapplied to a first side of piston 40 via conduit 50, inlet connectorportion 52 of housing 42 and a flow port 54 which communicates with thepiston cylinder. The top of housing 42 is provided with a vent port'56which provides communication between the interior of housing 42 at thesecond or upper side of piston 40 and the ambient atmosphere. Vent 56will typically be formed in a removable cap portion 58 of housing 42.

In operation the valve disc 12 is rotated to the open position by theapplication of fluid pilot pressure to the actuator port 54 to overcomethe return force of spring 44 and to thereby move the piston 40upwardly. As piston 40 moves upwardly the valve disc rotates about stubshafts 26 and 28 while roller 22 on the end of piston rod 20 moves inslot 16 of arm 14. In a preferred embodiment conduit 50 extended betweenflow port 54 and the interior of conduit 10 upstream of the valve and asolenoid operated valve was installed in conduit 50. Accordingly, thepresent invention may operate in bootstrap fashion. Alternatively, aseparate separated pressure supply may be employed for operation.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, as notedabove various modifications and substitutions may be made theretowithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has beendescribed by way of illustration and not limitation.

What is claimed is:

1. A valve comprising: housing means defining a linear fluid flow paththerethrough;

a disc member, said disc member defining a substantially planar valveelement, said disc member being provided with a pair of axially alignedbores, said bore axis intersecting a plane defined by the sealingportions of said disc member;

first and second stub shaft means, said shaft means extending throughsaid housing means and respectively engaging one of said axially alignedbores in said disc member, said shaft means mounting said disc memberfor rotation about an axis, said axis of rotation of said disc memberbeing intermediate the ends of said housing means defined flow path andgenerally transverse to the linear flow path;

arm means integral with and extending from said disc member, said armmeans being oriented transversely to the axis of said aligned bores andbeing provided with a slot;

a piston rod extending through a wall of said housing means;

roller means mounted on said piston rod adjacent the first end thereof,said roller means engaging said arm means slot and moving therein duringreciprocation of said piston rod whereby motion of said piston rod istransmitted to said arm means by said roller means;

an actuator housing mounted on the exterior of said valve housing means,said actuator housing defining a cylinder;

a piston disposed in said actuator housing cylinder;

means mechanically coupling the second end of said piston rod to saidpiston; and position.

means for imparting motion to said piston to thereby rotate said discmember to a desired potion.

' 23 3 33 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PatentNo. 3,771,759 Dated November 13, 1973 Inventofls) James J- Pauquette Itis certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line 47-Column 4, line 1, cancel "separated" Column 4, line 44(CLAIM l) cancel position Column 4, line 46 (CLAIM 1), change "potion to--position-- Signed and sealed this 2nd day of April 197E.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FL'ETCHE R,JR. 1 a C. MARSHALL DANN At'te'sting OfficerCommissioner of Patents

1. A valve comprising: housing means defining a linear fluid flow paththerethrough; a disc member, said disc member defining a substantiallyplanar valve element, said disc member being provided with a pair ofaxially aligned bores, said bore axis intersecting a plane defined bythe sealing portions of said disc member; first and second stub shaftmeans, said shaft means extending through said housing means andrespectively engaging one of said axially aligned bores in said discmember, said shaft means mounting said disc member for rotation about anaxis, said axis of rotation of said disc member being intermediate theends of said housing means defined flow path and generally transverse tothe linear flow path; arm means integral with and extending from saiddisc member, said arm means being oriented transversely to the axis ofsaid aligned bores and being provided with a slot; a piston rodextending through a wall of said housing means; roller means mounted onsaid piston rod adjacent the first end thereof, said roller meansengaging said arm means slot and moving therein during reciprocation ofsaid piston rod whereby motion of said piston rod is transmitted to saidarm means by said roller means; an actuator housing mounted on theexterior of said valve housing means, said actuator housing defining acylinder; a piston disposed in said actuator housing cylinder; meansmechanically coupling the second end of said piston rod to said piston;and position. means for imparting motion to said piston to therebyrotate said disc member to a desired potion.